Norton Legal

by Dreamer Lab

Norton Legal is a modest but sophisticated work place for a contemporary law firm.

Located in Melbourne’s west, and designed within an existing industrial building in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, designers at Dreamer Lab created a unique space in a relatively compact warehouse, inspired by the surrounding warehouse environment of Footscray.

Design of the new work place includes work areas, a meeting room, entry/waiting and reception area, printing and archive spaces, a breakout and a place for kids to hang out after school.

Instead of a traditional reception area, a combined meeting room, entry and waiting area was created, with a curtain to help give meetings some privacy when needed. The space also includes a breakout area, which can be used as a place for children to watch television after school.

The interior outlay of each space has been created using modest materials like stained Plywood and black fluorescent light fittings, which achieves a warm, yet sophisticated work place. The addition of the warmer finishes was also able to soften the lovely (but hard) textured precast.

Sound attenuation was also important in the intimate space as the 4 staff are often on the phone simultaneously. Both translucent and solid curtains were used to absorb sound, but also served to further soften the spaces, give some flexibility to the zoning and offer veiled views and light through the space.

Photography by Ben Shields from Dreamer Lab.

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